Standings
PHILADELPHIA -- Quenton DeCosey scored 23 points, including his team's final nine points, and Temple rallied to beat UConn 63-58 Thursday night for its fourth straight win.
Daniel Dingle scored 12 of his career-high 15 points in the second half for the Owls (15-8, 9-3 American Athletic Conference), who overcome a late 12-point deficit by closing the game on a 21-4 run.
Shonn Miller scored 15 points and Rodney Purvis had 12 for UConn (17-7, 7-4), which had its three-game winning streak snapped.
The surging Owls have won seven of their last eight. The victory moved Temple into a first-place tie with SMU for first place in the American Athletic Conference standings -- a game-and-a-half ahead of UConn. Both teams are vying for the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament as SMU is ineligible for the postseason because of NCAA infractions.
Trailing by 12 with six minutes left, Dingle sparked a big rally by draining three 3-pointers during a two-minute stretch to cut UConn's lead to 56-54 with 3:43 left. DeCosey then tied it up for Temple with 1:50 to go and, following a pair of Miller free throws on the other end, put the Owls up 59-58 on an acrobatic three-point play.
After Temple's Josh Brown forced a steal, DeCosey hit two more free throws with 19.9 seconds left to put Temple up by three. Before UConn could get a shot off to tie the game, Purvis was called for a double-dribble and DeCosey sealed the win with two more free throws.
The Huskies went on a 12-2 run to surge ahead 16-10 midway through the first half before Coleman and DeCosey hit back-to-back 3-pointers within 20 seconds of each other to tie the game. After the Huskies regained the lead by five, Temple closed the first half on a 9-2 run, capped by a buzzer-beating fadeaway from DeCosey, to take a 31-29 lead into halftime.
UConn took control coming out of the locker room with Miller sparking a 10-0 run to put the Huskies up 43-34 with 13:56 left. After scoring just two points in the first half, Miller had nine in the first five minutes of the second half.
TIP-INS
UConn: The Huskies committed three turnovers in the final 25 seconds after committing only two in the first half. . The Huskies dropped just their second road game of the season.
Temple: The Owls didn't commit their first foul until more than 14 minutes into the game and finished the first half with just one foul. . DeCosey has scored in double figures in 21 of 23 games . Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was sitting courtside.
Up Next
RV/NR UConn: vs. Tulsa* • Saturday, Feb. 13 • 8 p.m. ET • TV:ESPN2
Temple: vs. USF* • Sunday, Feb. 14 • 3 p.m. ET • TV:CBSSN
(*) Indicates Conference Game